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Sunday, November 3, 2013

Pointillism Fruit Review with See the Light

*This post contains affiliate links for See The Light, a Christian art education company. Clicking on these links can help my family but in no way does this association affect the opinions that you will read below. See the Light provided me with DVDs for reviewing purposes and is giving another set away to one of you.When we were offered the opportunity to review See the Light's Pointillism Fruit Art Project, I jumped at it. We've loved our See the Light Art Class DVDs, and I had high hopes for the lessons in the Art Project series. To see our review of Art Class 1 & 2, click here.We were not disappointed.This DVD features the work of George Seurat, a French painter who developed the pointillism technique. It contains four lessons, all of which are more than twenty minutes long and instruct in history, science, technique, and a devotion. Who knew a few simple art lessons could do so much?The first lesson begins with a biography of George Seurat. It contains information about his life and the science that makes pointillism work. Four of us viewed each of these lessons together: My Little Man, a six-year-old boy; My Big Helper, an eight-year-old girl; our friend A, who's ten, and me, a grown-up of undetermined years. ;-)The kids were a bit impatient with this first lesson - mostly because they couldn't wait to start painting. They wanted to get messy! The information contained in the lesson was fascinating to me, though, and I think it would be perfect for older students. I loved how easy Pat's - the master artist's - presentation was and friendly she appeared. This lesson alone would make it possible for this DVD to be used with a unit study about France, George Seurat, pointillism, color, or optic science!

In the second lesson the paints come out. Over the course of the next three lessons the viewer is taught how to create a still life using the pointillism technique. The kids liked this part the best. Demos continued throughout the lessons, although the kids' attention varied during this part. They tended to watch just a bit to get a feel for Pat's technique and then to charge ahead on their own.

Each child listened to the directions, though, and tried to follow them. This little guy wouldn't draw big fruit for anything, but being willing to draw a certain thing is new for him. I didn't push it, and it turned out that the smaller size of his drawing, although it prevented the pointillism technique from working out perfectly, matched his attention span for making the dots. Since this lesson is geared for kids ages ten and up, he did well.

My Big Helper was excited to see the color wheel throughout the lessons and excitedly shared what she remembered from former art lessons. This definitely activated prior knowledge for her and was a point of interest. I appreciated Pat's depth and the way that she continually referred to the color wheel to explain her color choice throughout the lessons.

Even when we thought there was nothing else we could do to make our pictures any better, Pat would break out the color wheel again and show us how to add even more detail to our work. The girls each got a bit tired of this by the end, but I loved it. It was very detailed information and fun to learn. Again, if the girls were just a bit older OR hadn't done all of the lessons in sequence, they probably would have used this information a bit more. As it was, they followed Pat's directions and added more detail for each step.

Our completed work demonstrates how specific and detailed the lessons are, as well as the ability of each child to follow the directions. For this Little Man, following any kind of specific art lesson is a new thing. He enjoyed the lessons and is very proud of how identifiable his fruit is. Since he has frequently complained about his lack of artistic ability in the past, I'm happy to see him enjoying art.

My Big Helper is also very proud of her work.

A said that she enjoyed completing the lessons. She worked diligently and did a great job with her fruit.

I had fun, too. I love being able to get lots in the mixing of colors. I would've been happy to hang out at the table, making more and more dots, but the kids were calling .... sigh. It's easy to see how engrossed Seurat became in his pointillism - though I don't think I could do work on a single piece for three years at a time. I'd really like to be able to see his work after learning about it, though.I would definitely recommend Pointillism Fruit with George Seurat. These art lessons were well planned, detailed, and complete in that they pulled in the art history and science along with the actual technique. The kids were thrilled with the 'professional' looking art that they made - and I think I need a house with more wall space to house it all!Pros to Using Pointillism Fruit, in random order:

easy-to-understand techniques

a devotion in each lesson

short, child-friendly lessons

interdisciplinary lessons - included art history, science, geography, and biography, as well as art technique and extension ideas

uses common household supplies - no special materials needed

affordable price

meets content standards for Visual Arts

they're fun!

Cons to Using Pointillism Fruit, in random order:

Truly, I can't think of any.

There's more good stuff to know about See the Light, though, and it's really important. See the Light exceeds the National Visual Arts Standards. They can be used as Fine Arts credit for any state in the US, and completing the video instruction alone - with all of their DVDs - satisfies 1/2 of a credit according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.

What makes it even better is that See the Light will provide you with the information that you need to turn that half credit into a whole credit easily. How great is it that they'll provide the plans necessary to get you all the way to a whole credit?

All in all, we loved these pointillism lessons, and I can't recommend them highly enough.

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About Me

I'm married to a wonderful man and spend most of my time at home with my family. I'm a teacher-turned-SAHM and am homeschooling our children - currently in kindergarten and second grade.I am always learning more about how to balance home and hearth and be the woman that God has created me to be - and to help make our home a secure nest among the rocks. This is my record of what I'm learning along the way.